A FORTRESS AND A WEAPON, BUT NOT WITHOUT SACRIFICE.

What a wonderful day tomorrow is going to be, said Neil, staring in a mirror in his room. A flicker of doubt crossed his face – Had he locked the gates? But tomorrow was his birthday. Nothing could ruin it. You have come this far, who would have guessed that I’d be the center of it all? He smiled and went off to bed. He lived alone in his multi-million-dollar mansion. At home, he made sure no workers were around; they only came in when he was out, after the stalker incident last year, trust was a currency he’d stopped spending. Despite being an outgoing person, he preferred the silence. Silence couldn’t betray him. “His reflection in the mirror looked like a weapon – sharpened, polished, and lethal.” Growing up, it was just him and his mom, but now he had a lot to protect. At 3:00 am, his phone started buzzing uncontrollably, but he was fast asleep. When he woke up, he realized he had slept past his usual wake-up time. He sighed and went ahead to freshen up and prepare for his birthday, only for him to hear his doorbell ring. Lazily, he got up and opened the door, and to his surprise, two detectives and two officers stood there and waved an arrest warrant at him. Mr. Swansmann. The detective’s voice was flat. ‘We’re here about Sara Winner. We need you to come with us. “Sara Winner?” he choked out. “What the hell are you talking about?” He didn’t understand. Had he met Sara Winner? Was this a prank? Just then, a group of media swarmed his house, cameras flashing like strobe lights and asking questions, microphones jammed toward his face, voices overlapping: ‘Did you kill her?’ ‘How long were you lovers?’. As he was being taken into the patrol car, someone bumped into him and whispered**you should have stayed a nobody**. Just as he was about to take a look at the person, an officer shoved his head down, barking, ‘Eyes forward, superstar. ’ As the patrol car pulled away, one thought clawed at Neil’s mind: ” Who the hell was Sara Winner?”.